Aerosols containing solid particles may be referred to as fumes and aerosols containing gases or vapors as well as liquid particles are also called fogs. An exemplary process for producing a flowing aerosol, hereinafter called and aerosol stream, provides that gaseous and/or vaporous chemical components are mixed with the aid of a diffusion process and/or a turbulent mixing process and the resulting gas and/or vapor mixture is converted by thermal reaction, e.g. flame hydrolysis, into an aerosol stream.
In an aerosol stream, the solid or liquid particles move at various angles and in various directions. An aerosol stream of this sort is often uneconomical to use when a directed stream is needed, e.g., in manufacturing facilities which do coating, where only the articles to be coated with the particles are to be covered and not their surroundings. It is obvious to direct such an aerosol stream by mechanical means, e.g., using baffles. However, this procedure is uneconomical, since the baffles are also coated by the aerosol particles, resulting in losses of the aerosol and requiring expensive cleaning procedures.